1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle door comprising an outer door panel, an inner door panel formed with an aperture and a plastic mounting panel to which functional devices of the vehicle door and door parts are mounted and which is installed to the inner door panel to cover up the aperture of the inner door panel with an intention to provide a lightweight vehicle door which needs a decreased number of parts and is easy to assemble, and a process of assembling the vehicle door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, vehicle doors are made up of a door panel assembly comprising a steel inner door panel and a steel outer door panel to which various functional parts and devices of the door, such as a window regulator and a door lock/unlock mechanism, are directly installed, In such as a vehicle door, because it is necessary to install various functional devices and associated parts in a space formed between the outer and inner door panels, the vehicle door is hard to be light in weight in addition to poor suitability of the plastic mounting panel for assembling work and a necessity of a large number of parts.
In an attempt to solve the aforementioned drawbacks, there has been proposed a vehicle door which comprises an outer door panel made of a steel sheet, an inner door panel made up of a metal main panel and a plastic auxiliary panel formed as one piece. The outer door panel has an outer door wall formed as a part integral with an inner frame defining a large aperture in which the inner door panel is fitted. Various functional devices and associated parts of the door are assembled to the inner door panel before fitting the inner door panel to the outer door panel. One of such vehicle doors is known from, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.9-156374.
In the case where the plastic auxiliary panel is separately prepared, the inner door panel can be unrestrictedly provided with various intricate shapes. As a result, since various fitting members such as clips are unnecessary to assemble the functional parts and devices of the door and, in addition, the functional parts and devices of the door are allowed to be disposed at various locations, a significant effect is produced in terms of increasing the degree of freedom for laying out internal constituent parts in the inside of the vehicle door. On the other hand, since a door lock/unlock operating member such as a cable linking a door lock/unlock mechanism is usually disposed in the space of the vehicle door formed between the outer door panel and the inner door panels, the vehicle door is possibly unlocked by dishonestly or intentionally operating the door lock/unlock operating member through a gap in the window, more specifically, between an upper edge of the outer door panel and a window glass. This places the vehicle under unreliable prevention from robberies.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle door which has improved antitheft door structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle door in which a linking member linking a door handle with a door lock/unlock mechanism is arranged such as to pass through a linking member guide hole of a plastic mounting panel from near an aperture of an inner door panel and then extend along the plastic mounting panel on a near side to the passenger compartment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle door having reliable antitheft door structure in which a cover member covers a door lock/unlock mechanism and a linking member linking a door handle with the door lock/unlock mechanism which extends along a plastic mounting panel partly on a far side from a passenger compartment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle door having a plastic mounting panel with a cover secured thereto for covering a door lock/unlock mechanism and a linking member linking a door handle with the door lock/unlock mechanism which extends along a plastic mounting panel partly on a far side from a passenger compartment which provides suitability of the cover for assembling work.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle door having a plastic mounting panel with a cover formed as a part integral therewith which reduces the number of parts of the vehicle door and provides improved suitability of the vehicle door for assembling work.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process of assembling a vehicle door comprising an outer door panel disposed on a far side from a passenger compartment of a vehicle, an inner door panel formed with an aperture and disposed on a near side to the passenger compartment and a plastic mounting panel, which includes a step of mounting a door lock/unlock mechanism and a linking member through which the door lock/unlock mechanism is operated to lock and unlock the vehicle door to the plastic mounting panel and then covering them by a cover member and a step of installing the plastic mounting panel to the inner door panel so as to close up the aperture of the inner door panel.
The aforesaid objects of the present invention are achieved by a vehicle door comprising an outer door panel disposed on a far side from a passenger compartment of a vehicle, an inner door panel formed with an aperture and disposed on a near side to the passenger compartment, and a plastic mounting panel to which functional devices of the vehicle door and door parts are mounted and which is installed to the inner door panel to cover up the aperture of the inner door panel, which comprises a door lock/unlock mechanism mounted to the plastic mounting panel on the far side from the passenger compartment and a linking member connected to the door lock/unlock mechanism through which the door lock/unlock mechanism is operated to lock and unlock the vehicle door, the linking member passing through a linking member guide hole formed in the plastic mounting panel from near the aperture of the inner door panel and extending along the plastic mounting panel partly on the far side from the passenger compartment and partly on the near side to the passenger compartment. The vehicle door thus comprised has the linking member disposed outside a space between the inner door panel and the outer door panel, so as to provide the vehicle with an improved antitheft effect.
The vehicle door is preferably provided with a cover member which covers the door lock/unlock mechanism and a part of the linking member extending along the plastic mounting panel on the far side from the passenger compartment. The cover member reliably prevents the door lock/unlock mechanism and/or the linking member from an access from the outside of the vehicle with a foul intention to run away with the vehicle.
The cover member is fixedly secured to the plastic mounting panel previously mounting the door lock/unlock mechanism and/or the linking member to the plastic mounting panel P. Otherwise, the cover member may be formed in position as a part integral with the plastic mounting panel. The vehicle door may further comprise an anchor member operative to anchor the linking member which is formed as a part integral with the plastic mounting panel. Further, the vehicle door may comprise a bracket member operative to hold a door handle connected to the linking member which is formed as a part integral with the plastic mounting panel. This integral structure enables to install the plastic mounting panel with the door lock/unlock mechanism and the linking member to the plastic mounting panel P mounted thereto and the cover member to the inner door panel all at once with an effect of simplifying assembling work and is of great advantage to decreasing the number of door parts to be assembled.
The vehicle door which comprises an outer door panel disposed on a far side from a passenger compartment of the vehicle, an inner door panel formed with an aperture and disposed on a near side to the passenger compartment, and a plastic mounting panel to which functional devices of the vehicle door and door parts are mounted and which is installed to the inner door panel to close up the aperture of the inner door panel is assembled by a process comprising the steps of attaching a door lock/unlock mechanism, a linking member through and a cover member to the plastic mounting panel such that the cover member covers the door lock/unlock mechanism and the linking member from a far side from a passenger compartment of the vehicle and installing the plastic mounting panel with the door lock/unlock mechanism and the linking member covered by the cover member to the inner door panel.
According to the process of assembling the vehicle door, the door lock/unlock mechanism, the linking member and the cover member are previously attached in position to the plastic mounting panel as a sub-assembly and thereafter the sub-assembly is installed to the inner door panel. This process improves suitability of the vehicle door for assembling work.